About the time that the NES Classic Edition will launch (and, considering the pre-order situation already, completely sold out), there will be a lesser-known but similar product coming to the shelves. Retro-Bit Generations is, in many respects, a competitor to the NES Classic, boasting a bundle of old school games in a plug-and-play device.

But will it be a challenger? The obstacles are steep here. This console hasn’t been getting the press or has the instant name recognition that the NES Classic has. It’s also not going to feature any first-party NES games. Even so, it might have an edge on the Classic in a few ways that could make it worth picking up.

For starters, Generations has more games (90 versus 30) that span several consoles (NES, SNES, arcade, and Gameboy, mostly). It also has a stronger third-party focus, with Capcom, Data East, and Jaleco leading the pack. Many of the games are more obscure, but there are several classics in the list, including Bionic Commando (which was shamefully omitted from the NES Classic), 1942/43, Knights of the Round, Bases Loaded, Commando, Super Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts, Gun Smoke, two Kid Niki games, and R-Type 3.

It also has an SD slot to save/transfer games and possibly expand on this list, something the Classic lacks. I’m ambivalent about the controllers, which are modeled after the Genesis, but we’ll see. The price tag, $60, puts it right there against the NES Classic, and might be a hard sell without the nostalgia design or strong first-party titles.

This YouTuber actually seems more excited about the Generations console than the Classic, so check it out:

I thought it was actually a quite good little unit. For 100 games it was well priced and most of the emulation was pretty decent. Not quite as well done as the Nes Classic, but it does destroy it in cord length.